As mentioned in my previous posts, doing more & more rollerskating the last week. Started with some trainings September 4th. Beginners trainings on Tuesday and just by myself training on Wednesdays. On Wednesdays the more advanced people are doing their training (4 girls) and I am just doing my own trainings with some guidance from them. In total I spend about 6 hours on my skates per week.

With the group 14 people, we even learned our first little dance routine this week. 6 weeks to go before the club is doing their yearly show. And yep, the adults have to do a little routine as well. Oh boy !

In general, it is going quite well, forward/backwards cross overs, one leg left/right forward. Learning inside & outside edge as well :-) and I can really feel like I am making some progress. Especially late in the evenings 22u00 till 23u00 when I basically have the court for myself, I really enjoy & feel like making good progress.

Going backwards on one leg was 'not done / way way too complicated' 4 weeks ago. Yesterday I managed to do this on both left & right and this for have of the court.

Next question: I can see & feel that from going backwards on right leg and switch back to forward, ending on forward inside edge, this looks like the start do a little jump.

But I am just too scared / afraid. How do I overcome the fear of trying my first little jump? Any tips/tricks on how overcome?

As mentioned in my previous posts, doing more & more rollerskating the last week. Started with some trainings September 4th. Beginners trainings on Tuesday and just by myself training on Wednesdays. On Wednesdays the more advanced people are doing their training (4 girls) and I am just doing my own trainings with some guidance from them. In total I spend about 6 hours on my skates per week.

With the group 14 people, we even learned our first little dance routine this week. 6 weeks to go before the club is doing their yearly show. And yep, the adults have to do a little routine as well. Oh boy !

In general, it is going quite well, forward/backwards cross overs, one leg left/right forward. Learning inside & outside edge as well :-) and I can really feel like I am making some progress. Especially late in the evenings 22u00 till 23u00 when I basically have the court for myself, I really enjoy & feel like making good progress.

Going backwards on one leg was 'not done / way way too complicated' 4 weeks ago. Yesterday I managed to do this on both left & right and this for have of the court.

Next question: I can see & feel that from going backwards on right leg and switch back to forward, ending on forward inside edge, this looks like the start do a little jump.

But I am just too scared / afraid. How do I overcome the fear of trying my first little jump? Any tips/tricks on how overcome?

Greetzzzz

The first little jump should start on the forward outside edge. And land on the oposite foot back outer edge. Thatís the waltz jump.

Well I guess a mohawk jump would start on a inside edge. But itís not really a jump. Itís more of a step around with a little hop.

Either way, do a couple of 1/2 rotation two foot jump to get the feel for how much rotation you need. Two foot jumps can be done at a complete standstill or tiny bit of roll. But you want to start picking up speed after your comfortable with that.

If you do some 2 footers right in a row it gets pretty not scarry, pretty quickly.

I’m not a big proponent of jumping and spinning when a person can barely skate, but in our Saturday class they insist on teaching people how to jump spin after they reach a little bit of skating balance and form and strength in their legs.

Derrick’s ideas of the waltz jump and Mohawk jump seem to have merit and are on the right path of what they teach in our Saturday morning beginning classes/Jr Club for a 4 star skater. I’m not sure how long it takes to get to 4 star skater, but you seem to be somewhere in that mix.

I truly believe a skater should skate class lessons for a couple years, get 4-5 figure tests completed and 5-6 dance tests completed before jumping and spinning. That’s what I did before I started jumping and spinning and we skipped all single jumps and went right into double turn jumps and single Axles and Boekels and OF camel spins

And from their you learned the hard ways falling thousands of time before you mastered any one item.

But recently I met a man who had a completely different approach to jumping and spinning in which I thinks has merit.

Buy one of those mini-tramps, they are about 48-50 inches in diameter and sit about a foot off the ground. Get on it and start jumping up and down/no turning, no revolutions… just to get a feel of the height and getting off the ground/ jumping up and down just to get a feel for height and elevation off the jumping surface.

Next try jumping and turning/rotate ľ turn, then a Ĺ turn/revolution, ĺ turn and finally 1 revolution turn on the mini-tramp. This training exercise might help you get the feeling for jumping when you are on skates.

As a youth we never did this but did practice the jumps off skates before doing them on. I never did single jumps off skates, but learned all my harder double turn jumps off skates before trying them on skates,…like the double loop and double axel.

Sincerely,

Larry Otani and good luck! And be careful and always practice good form and don’t cheat. Cheating will get you hurt.

At 17 I started skating that summer and on my 3rd time to the rink as I was leaving I saw some club skaters get on the floor and I froze in amazement when I saw the first double jump. Then another person got on the floor and did the same. Then some teen girls got on the floor and were jumping and spinning. I couldn't believe it. I was hooked. I had to learn that.

About 3 months later and maybe 30 times to the rink in the next 3 or 4 months I saved up money and bought my first pair of skates (a pair of Chicago skates) to do freestyle... I quickly learned I needed Snyder Super deluxe so I traded in my Chicago skates and bought the Snyder Super Deluxe and started my first lesson in November 1971.

My first lesson was to lean an IB upright and a waltz jump. I joined the club and for a price of $20 a month I could skate anytime there was someone there with a key. I was there almost 6 to 8 hours a day for about 3 days during the week and the entire weekend I spend at the rink. By Feb I was doing competitions.

So after a long story: I think learning jumps and spins immediately can be a very good thing.

Now for the fear thing. GET FREAKING OVER IT or don't do it at all.
Your body and mind are learning a new thing and new balances. YOU WILL FALL! At least at first as you learn. Just practice basics and keep practicing them but expect that new things such as becoming airborne and rotation and not knowing where you body is and zero (other than air) friction while you are in the air leads to loss of control at first and you will fall. GET OVER IT.

The worse thing you can do is jump being afraid. Jump with control and speed. If you jump too slow you won't get the height. If you jump too fast you maybe out of control. Put all your thought into the jump and don't think about falling. Concentrate on perfect takeoff, positioning in the air and landing with a perfect check.